Sunderland star Larsson: Stunning free-kick means nothing to me, because we lost to Spurs

Chris Young

SEB LARSSON admits that his stunning free-kick was scant consolation after Sunderland’s last-gasp defeat at Tottenham.

Only David Beckham, Gianfranco Zola and Thierry Henry have now scored more goals from set pieces in the Premier League era than Larsson’s tally of 11, after the midfielder netted his third of the season to bring Sunderland level at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

That looked as if it would help Gus Poyet’s side to a precious point in the relegation battle, until Christian Eriksen grabbed the winner for Spurs with two minutes to go.

In the wake of Steven Fletcher spurning a sitter just before Larsson’s free-kick, and substitute Danny Graham missing golden chances either side of Eriksen’s goal, the Swedish international struggled to hide his disappointment at coming away empty-handed.

“If it (the free-kick) had given us something from the game, then I would have been pleased,” said Larsson, following Sunderland’s third defeat out of three in the league in 2015

“But it didn’t, so it doesn’t really make a difference.

“Obviously Tottenham had a lot of possession, but it didn’t feel like we were hanging on.

“We felt quite comfortable.

“And if you look through the game, we had three great, great chances that we didn’t take.